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How long to smoke brisket on grill
If you’re wondering how long to smoke a brisket on a grill, then just know that brisket usually is completed at around the 10 to 12 hour mark depending on how hot and fast or low and slow you cook it.
For any type of brisket whether it be a whole packer or a flat only type of brisket, you should know that for temperatures at around 225°F to 250°F, it should roughly take about 1 pound per hour of cook time to fully cook it on a grill.
For hotter temperatures such as 275°F or hotter, expect to have an average cook time of 2 pounds per hour.
The length of time is not dependent on what type of grill you have. It’s more so about how large the actual cut is and how hot you decide to be cooking it at.
Can you smoke a brisket on a gas grill
Traditionally, briskets are not actually cooked on gas grills. That’s because it’s really hard to get any type of smoke flavor even if you have a small little aftermarket attachment with tiny woodchucks in it.
That being said, it can be done, but it’s not recommended.
One of the only benefits I would say to trying to smoke or cook a brisket on a gas grill, is that they give consistent temperatures and that it is easy to set your proper temps.
With Gas grills, you have direct ability to control the temperature to the exact amount you want and have it stay there without changing much.
This is not something you can get in a traditional type of smoker.
Besides that though, what you will need to do in order to properly smoke a brisket on a gas grill, is to purchase some sort of aftermarket smoking attachment that allows you to get wood chips and place it near the fire in the gas grill itself.
By having this little attachment, you should effectively be able to at least get some type of smoke flavor on the brisket.
Make sure to watch for whether or not the flame happens to go out, because you don’t want a constant source of propane or gas to be emitted, without being ignited.
Can you cook brisket on a charcoal grill
Besides cooking a brisket on a gas grill, you could certainly decide to cook it on a charcoal grill instead, while still reaping the benefits and side effects of having it obtain significant smoke flavor.
In fact, this is something that a lot of people will do if they have a weber kettle. It’s basically the hallmark and staple product for charcoal grilling.
All you have to do is light up about half of the fire basket of the charcoal weber grill, and place some type of heat shield over it so the brisket can get indirect heat and smoker for several hours.
In terms of the length of time that you would probably need to cook a brisket on a charcoal grill, use the same estimations of about 1 to 2 lbs. per hour of time, depending of course how hot faster you decide to be cooking it at.
How much charcoal do I need to smoke a brisket
In order to sustain a long enough cook for your brisket on a particular charcoal grill or any type of grill for that matter, you’ll definitely want to get at least a whole bag of charcoal that you can rely on in the event that your charcoal happens to go out if you burn through it too quickly.
In practice, this is about probably 5 or 10 pounds of charcoal. Depending on your heat retention for your smoker or grill, you will probably not need to go through all that.
But, it is very important to have more than you need, so go to your nearest store and get the biggest package you can find.
As far as lighting the charcoal and actually putting it into the smoker or grill, I personally like to grab a weber chimney starter and fill it all the way up to the top and use that as the initial heat source going forward.
How to cook brisket on pit boss pellet grill
There are of course a whole variety of different types of grills that you can use to cook a brisket over a substantially short or long period of time.
The most notable of which, are the pellet smoker grills. Of these grills, you have Traeger and then you have the famed pit boss pellet grill.
For a pit boss pellet grill, it’s really pretty simple, and all you need is a big bag of pellets and a brisket.
Once you season the brisket, throw it onto the pellet grill and set a temperature for a hot enough range that you Can accept.
In terms of accepting a certain temperature range, that brings us back to how long you want to be smoking a brisket for, on your particular grill. For a short grilling session for your brisket, set the temperature as high as reasonably possible.
How long to smoke a 3lb brisket on pellet grill
If you happen to have a 3 pound brisket and want to know how long it should take to smoke on your glorious little pellet grill, it should take about 2 to 3 hours to fully cook through.
That’s assuming of course you smoke it anywhere between 225°F to 300°F. It’s really up to you and it doesn’t really matter how low and slow or hot and fast you decide to cook it at, considering the weight is so low to begin with.
How long to smoke a brisket flat on Traeger
In terms of the length of time it takes to smoke a brisket flat on a Traeger grill, there is really no difference between, first of all what type of brisket you have, nor what type of grill you have.
Just check the weight of the brisket flat and how hot you choose to cook it at. That will be the sole determining factor of the overall length of time that it will take to complete it.
Final thoughts
Always make sure to come prepared and know how long you should be waiting around for your brisket to finish, regardless of what type of brisket cut you have or the type of grill you have.
For starters, temperature and weight of any brisket on a particular grill will be the determining factor for the overall length of your cook.
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.